Hayley Upston shows her flexibility as she performs in the barefoot dance section of the Gisborne Ballet Group competitions last weekend. Photo / Michaela Joy
Hayley Upston shows her flexibility as she performs in the barefoot dance section of the Gisborne Ballet Group competitions last weekend. Photo / Michaela Joy
From pirouettes to funky hip hop moves, dancers got to showcase the results of their hard work at Gisborne Ballet Group’s annual competitions last weekend.
Talented dancers took the stage at the War Memorial Theatre hoping to impress the judge by demonstrating a combination of technical prowess and personality.
TheGisborne Ballet Group (GBG) weekend began its 70th year of competitions with an acknowledgement to former committee member, Pam Brown, who died last week.
“The committee asked that everyone simply dance from their heart to celebrate Pam’s life,” GBG co-vice-president Heidi Rice said.
The GBG competitions are unique in that they are for local dancers only.
Dance teacher Alisha Gabrielsen was flown in from the Kāpiti Coast to adjudicate.
“We want to provide a platform for local dancers [tap, ballet, modern, musical theatre, hip hop] to dress up and celebrate everything they’ve learnt, and performing on stage is the absolute the icing on the cake,” Rice said.
The competitions were broken down into sections - tap, classical ballet, contemporary, barefoot and pointe, musical theatre and lyrical, as well as demi character, jazz and hip hop.
